Embodiments of the present invention relate to video display and video game entertainment devices in general and, in particular, to the rendering of avatars, vehicles, game pieces, etc. on a user's mobile device based on its look angle and/or position with respect to another user's mobile device and/or a fixed video display.
Video games are typically played by users sitting in front of a video screen. Multi-player video games are often played by users sitting in front of a common, shared video screen. The shared video screen is sometimes a large television that is connected with a video game console, such as a Sony PlayStation® 3. Wired or wireless game controllers serve as input devices to send commands from the users to the console. In some instances, data is sent from the console to the controllers to, for example, switch on and off lights on a controller, give tactile signals (e.g. force feedback) to the user, calibrate the controllers, etc.
Networked multi-player games are often played by users sitting in front of their own, personal video screens. These video games are often played from a personal computer (PC) or a video game console using a keyboard or game controllers described above. Some networked multi-player games are played from a portable handheld, smart phone, or other mobile device with its own embedded display, such as a Sony PlayStation Portable® (PSP). The display shares the same plastic housing with buttons, joysticks, rollerballs, trigger switches, and/or other input components. Some displays that are touch or stylus-sensitive also serve as input devices in addition to or in conjunction with physical buttons, etc.
To play a handheld game on a mobile device with an integrated display, a user sometimes stares down into his screen without moving. Some players attempt to stay as motionless as possible, avoiding jarring by others around them, in order to concentrate and maintain hand-eye coordination to correctly select inputs in response to the game. This head-down, motionless poise can make for a solitary experience, even when a user is playing against another human opponent. Even if the opposing, or cooperating, players are seated next to each other, physical interaction between the players can be minimal because they look with their heads down at their screens instead of toward each other. This heads-down posture can also result in getting motion sickness if one in a moving vehicle such as an automobile.
There may, therefore, be a need in the art to allow players of single-player games to better interact with their physical surroundings and players of multi-player games to better interact with one another while playing against each other.